WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/MA/W/109 
25 November 2008 
 
 (08-5796) 
Negotiating Group on Market Access Original:   Spanish 
  
 
MARKET ACCESS FOR NON-AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS 
 
Communication from Argentina
 
  
 The following communication, dated 25 November 2008, is being circulated at the request of 
the delegation of Argentina.  
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1. Argentina is fully committed to the Doha R ound negotiations.  It endorses the objective that 
the final agreement should be c onsistent with the development mandate and should remedy the 
imbalances in the multilateral trading system  resulting from asymmetry in the treatment of 
agricultural products vis-à-vis  non-agricultural products. 
2. Specifically, and in order to prevent a further d eepening of the disparity of treatment between 
Agriculture and NAMA, Argentina considers it essen tial that the outcome of the Round, whatever it 
may be, should be in keeping with the provisions  of paragraph 24 of the Hong Kong Ministerial 
Declaration in ensuring a comparably high level of ambition in market access for Agriculture and 
NAMA. 
3. In this connection, neither the draft NAMA m odalities of July 2008 nor the Director-General's 
proposal included in his "package" of 25 July 2008 are consistent with the principle of less-than-full 
reciprocity in reduction commitments, nor do they  comply with paragraph 24 of the Hong Kong 
Ministerial Declaration.  This is compounded by undue demands to limit flexibilities, impose 
"anti-concentration" rules, and require mandatory participation by certain developing countries in 
sectoral agreements.  All of this runs counter to th e principle of special and differential treatment in 
favour of the developing countries. 
4. In Argentina's view, current circumstances de mand that the outcome of the negotiations, 
whatever it may be, should contribute to trade lib eralization whilst allowing the developing countries 
to maintain moderate tariff levels and preserve the space they need to implement their policies aimed at expanding and diversifying th e production base, increasing employment, and guaranteeing social 
stability and progress.  This is the only way for developing country markets to continue making a 
dynamic contribution to the rise in global demand, in  a context of financial crisis with its clear 
symptoms of international economic recession. 
5. The manufacturing industry, which accounts for approximately 17 per cent of GDP, was one 
of the main engines of Argentina's economic recovery  following the crisis suffered by the country in 
2001 and 2002.  From then on, the number of jobs in  the industrial sector rose by 8 per cent per year, 
from 773,036 in 2002 to 1,130,858 in 2007.  As a resu lt of economic recovery, the value of industrial 
goods imports underwent a continuous increase from 7, 683 million dollars in 2002 to 38,971 million 
in 2007, representing an annual growth rate of 38 per cent. TN/MA/W/109 
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  6. The deficit in the industrial goods trade ba lance went from 86 million dollars in 2002 to 
21,648 million in 2007, a figure that cannot continue to rise at the same pace without jeopardizing the 
country's further growth and social stability. 
7. As stated earlier, the key element which explai ns Argentina's positive contribution to global 
demand is economic growth, not an excessive reduction in tariffs.  Argentina currently has moderate 
industrial tariffs, which fosters the major increase in trade flow mentioned above. 
8. The relative importance of tariffs as an industr ial policy instrument is linked to acceptance 
and implementation of multilateral disciplines restric ting the use of other tools such as subsidies, 
quantitative restrictions, regulati ons governing foreign investment, and directed lending schemes.  
Many of these other tools are, however, used in ag ricultural production and trade in the developed 
countries, thus limiting Argentina's ability to bene fit from the high competitiveness it enjoys in this 
area. 
9. Indeed, the major economic powers will maintain  a high level of protection for products of 
commercial significance to Argentina, even after implementing the undertakings negotiated in the 
Doha Round.  This is because of the differences in cuts pertaini ng to sensitive products, a situation 
that is further aggravated by the persistence of  strongly managed trade, given the diversity of 
protection instruments, including tariff quotas.  The reduction provided in the negotiations in respect 
of these quotas does not, for the time being, narrow th e gap between in-quota and out-of-quota tariffs. 
10. As far as the industrial sector in the develope d countries is concerned, the granting of high 
subsidies to the automotive and other industrial and services sectors is currently under review in order 
to address the global financial crisis.  The implemen tation of such measures would considerably alter 
competitive conditions for countries, such as Argentina, which do not or cannot grant subsidies.  It is 
therefore all the more important that tariff reduc tion in NAMA by the developing countries should be 
consistent with the proposals set out in this doc ument, including the possibility of exempting from 
tariff reduction sectors benefiting from s ubsidies in the developed countries. 
11. In view of the above, and assuming that suffi cient progress is made in the Agriculture 
negotiations, Argentina confirms that it will be ab le to move ahead on a set of modalities involving a 
Swiss formula coefficient of 35 and flexibilities fo r 16 per cent of NAMA lines, with a 50 per cent cut 
and no trade value limitation.  This is a significant contribution and Argentina's best effort in the 
present international circumstances an d the current negotiating context. 
12. Alternatively, in the case of a coefficient of less than 35 but greater than 25, the flexibilities 
required by Argentina would be the following: 
 - 16 per cent of lines subject to a 50 per cent cut;  and 
 - 8 per cent of lines not subject to cuts.    TN/MA/W/109 
 Page 3 
 
 
  Annex I  
 
P24:  Balance between Agriculture and NAMA? 
 
Tariff reductions for agricultural and non-agricultural products under 
the Lamy "package" of July 2008   
(as a percentage) 
 A. With NAMA flexibilities
 
 
 Developed countries1 Developing countries2 
 
Agriculture3 54% 36% 
NAMA4 39.9% 56.8% to 57.3% 
 
1. US, Japan and EU. 
2. Argentina, Brazil and India. 
3. Minimum cut for developed countries (includi ng sensitive products, tropical products and 
tariff escalation) and maximum cut for developing countries. 
4. Minimum and maximum cuts in accordance with th e various combinations of coefficients and 
flexibilities proposed. 
 Source:  Centre for International Economics (CEI) on the basis of WTO data. 
 
 B. Without NAMA flexibilities
 
 
 Developed countries1 Developing countries2 
 
Agriculture3 54% 36% 
NAMA4 39.9% 56.9% to 60.9% 
 
1. US, Japan and EU. 
2. Argentina, Brazil and India. 
3. Minimum cut for developed countries (includi ng sensitive products, tropical products and 
tariff escalation) and maximum cut for developing countries. 
4. Minimum and maximum cuts in accordance with the various coefficients proposed. 
 Source:  Centre for International Economics (CEI) on the basis of WTO data.  TN/MA/W/109 
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Annex II
 
 
Argentina:  Trade in industrial manufactures 
(US$ million) 
 
Year Exports 
 Imports 
 Balance 
 
2002 7,597 7,683 -86 
2003 8,047 12,121 -4,074 
2004 9,591 19,991 -10,400 
2005 11,985 25,412 -13,427 
2006 14,843 30,419 -15,576 
2007 17,323 38,971 -21,648 
 Source:  Centre for International Economics (CEI) on the basis of Argentine Institute of Statistics and 
Censuses (INDEC) data.
  
   TN/MA/W/109
 Page 5 
Annex III  
 
EU:  Tariffs for agricultural products subject to quotas 
(selected products) 
                   
Current tariff   Resulting tariff (Lamy "package" of July 2008) 
 Out-of-quota3 Difference between 
in-quota and out-of-quota 
(per cent)  
 
HS 
subheading  
Description  
Quota In-quota  
Out-of-
quota1 
  In-quota2 Difference 
of 1/3 in 
relation to 
overall cut Difference 
of 2/3 in 
relation to 
overall cut Difference 
of 1/3 Difference of 
2/3 
02023090 Meat of bovine animals, 
frozen, boneless EECQ004 20.00 141.78  10.0 75.62 108.70 86.8 90.8 
02061095 Thin skirt EECQ004 20.00 407.82  10.0 217.50 312.66 95.4 96.8 
20031030 Mushrooms EECQ040 19.33 217.41  9.7 115.95 166.68 91.7 94.2 
20096951 Grape juice, concentrated EECQ086 28.27 199.16   14.1 106.22 152.69 86.7 90.7 
           
1. Ad valorem  equivalents . 
2. 50 per cent reduction, tariffs not higher than 15 per cent, a nd reduction to zero per cent of tariffs lower than 5 per cent. 
3. With 4 per cent of sensitive lines. 
 Source:  Centre for International Economics (CEI). 
 
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